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Corel Ousted From Public Life?

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the don't-call-me-garbo dept.

gagy writes "Ottawa's Corel Corp. has been showing signs of weakness in the past few years, and looks very likely to be bought out by Vector Corp, at which point it will become a privately held company. A Toronto Star story spells out the details of the deal, and takes a brief look at the history of Corel." We mentioned Corel's deal with Vector last month.

10 of 214 comments (clear)

  1. What a fall. by nightsweat · · Score: 4, Insightful
    From WordPerect's market dominance to getting bought out by a graphics package maker to this.

    Maybe the law firms will think about converting now?

    --

    the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur - A.N. White
    1. Re:What a fall. by sisukapalli1 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It is sad to see such a turn of events. The only thing that can make it worse is if some SCO like low lifes buy the company for a few pennies and start suing people at OpenOffice.org or KOffice.org.

      Ofcourse, M$FT and even SUN will pay money to those companies to make sure "they respect IP rights."

      Sorry about the rant. There is so much reason for outrage.

      S

  2. Corel, you will be missed by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Even back in the days before Linux went mainstream, from Corel Draw onward, Corel was ever a thorn in Microsoft's side. It looks like they went down in the good fight. The name "Corel" may emerge from this yet, but it sure won't be the same rebellious little software firm with a chip on it's shoulder.

    Here's to Corel... may it live on in out hearts and minds in "the happy coding ground."

    1. Re:Corel, you will be missed by molarmass192 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Corel sold out to Microsoft. The only reason they ever even got a cash offer from MS was because they had a Linux product line that was a drop in replacement for MS OS/Office, notice how quickly afterwards it was withdrawn. I appreciate their work on WINE but other than that, good riddance, you danced with the devil and now you have to pay the price. Let this be a lesson to anybody would thinks MS is their white knight. Does anybody here remember Sybase?

      --

      Good people do not need laws to tell them to act responsibly, while bad people will find a way around the laws-Plato
    2. Re:Corel, you will be missed by Otter · · Score: 4, Insightful
      Corel was ever a thorn in Microsoft's side. It looks like they went down in the good fight. The name "Corel" may emerge from this yet, but it sure won't be the same rebellious little software firm with a chip on it's shoulder.

      If anything, that was the problem with Corel. They were so fixated on avenging themselves on Microsoft, they jumped on every bandwagon that came along -- Java, Linux -- with no regard for whether it would work or if anyone would buy it. Apple, in contrast, survives because Steve Jobs and the corporate culture have an attitude of "What can I make that will be good and that people will pay money for?" not "How can I screw Microsoft?"

      Sun, are you listening?

      --
      What I'm listening to now on Pandora...
    3. Re:Corel, you will be missed by panaceaa · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Corel was constantly chasing the latest "hot" technologies without ever letting their products mature and becoming marketable. Your reference to the change from Linux to .NET is a great example. But ever since Corel Draw became obsolete, Corel spent large amounts of time and money developing hype-driven products.

      The first blunder I remember happened when Java was super hyped-up by Sun. With great fanfare, Corel ported Word Perfect to Java. Corel later cancelled the project, right when it was gaining market traction, seemlingly because the Java hype calming down. Around the same time, Palm sneaked on the scene with their much-hyped PDAs, and Corel announced it would create a PDA running Java (which never made it to market).

      The bubble moved on, and in around 1999, Linux became the hot technology. Corel created a Linux distribution and ported Word Perfect to Linux. Only a few years later, Corel cancelled both projects and announced it's amazing new idea to create products for .NET. I can only imagine their .NET products will share the same fate.

      I have no sympathy for Corel's demise. Ever since Corel Draw became a cash-cow, Corel never attempted to create products people actually wanted (to pay for, anyway). They chased hot technologies instead of customer's needs. I can't believe so many people, especially people on Slashdot, took the hype to heart and actually believed Corel would follow through on their announcements.

      --
      my blog
  3. Poor Headline by windowpain · · Score: 4, Insightful

    "Corel Ousted From Public Life" is a poor choice of words. "Ousted" means "To eject from a position or place; force out." Nobody is forcing anything. Vector is simply making a tender offer.

    And when a company goes private it doesn't disappear from "public life." Its ownership merely changes hands.

    --
    Insert witty sig here.
  4. RIP Corel by larry+bagina · · Score: 4, Insightful
    For those that don't know, Corel used WineLib to recompile thwir Windows Wares under linux. They also contributed a fair amount of code and bug fixes to Wine.


    However, if htey become private (closed), it's likely to put a stop to their linux activities.


    Closed companies have generally been less receptive to Open Source (VA Linux, IBM, and Red Hat are all public companies). The threat of shareholder lawsuits is usually enough to make sure public companies use Linux to save money, and adopt Open Source ideals. Private companies, sadly, often end up being microsoft-only shops.

    --
    Do you even lift?

    These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

  5. Re:Does it really matter? by oni · · Score: 3, Insightful

    How can Intuit survive Microsoft and not these other companies?

    Is it because Microsoft isn't trying? Just wait until they start putting Microsoft Money into Office - or maybe including it with Windows. Intuit will be gone in no time flat. If people already have MS Money do you think they'll go out and buy Quicken? Even if Quicken is better? I don't think they will. It's sad but it's true. This is how MS competes.

    The only way to beat MS is to give your software away for free or establish a niche market that MS doesn't care about.

  6. Re:Corel by nvrrobx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    With Dell machines, you can choose WordPerfect Office instead of Microsoft Office or Works. I saved some money on my laptop when I did that.

    I prefer WordPerfect anyhow (I was a die-hard WordPerfect for DOS user).

    Is any other word processor ever going to get a Reveal Codes feature? I'm sure I'm not the only person that considers this one of the most powerful features of WordPerfect.

    The amount of control over your document with WordPerfect was absolutely amazing, and something I really miss every time I have to use MS Word.